Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Pilgrim’s Picks for July 22 Posted: 22 Jul 2008 09:24 AM CDT Another day, another dollar edition of Pilgrim’s Picks. Could changes at The Patent and Trademark Office nullify Google’s patents? The New York Times have announced a content syndication deal with LinkedIn. Apparently Propeller, AOL’s social news site, doesn’t want to copy Digg’s system anymore. Instead, they’ve announced a new algorithm that will calculate the most popular items. Wordpress comes to the iPhone? w00t! Pilgrim’s Partners: Is a blogger attacking your company without you knowing? Monitor your online reputation with Andy Beal’s Trackur–try it for free!

Did Robert Scoble Break Google? Posted: 22 Jul 2008 09:15 AM CDT It seems that Robert Scoble is a true "disrupter" of technology. This time, his blog is causing Google’s Sitelinks a little bit of a headache. Pilgrim’s Update: Learn online reputation management skills directly from Andy Beal. Attend the Online Reputation Management Workshop and save $400 when you register today!

Baristas Unite! Social Networking At Street Level Posted: 22 Jul 2008 08:29 AM CDT Small businesses in the US are struggling right now. Any edge or any hope that can be found is a welcome change from the continued onslaught of economic news around rising prices and shrinking wallets. I found one such story this morning over my cup of coffee. Oh and it was kinda cool that it was about coffee. I need that kind of early morning validation that my coffee drinking is still "in vogue". Anyway, in the Wall Street Journal this morning (I know, where else does Frank get his news from?) there was a real life example of social networking helping small businesses. Not just hype round social networking being good for small business but an actual story of success. How about that? The article discusses the success of Matt Miletto who is the director of training for the American Barista and Coffee School in Portland, OR. Now after I got over the head scratching phase of "There is a school for this stuff and it's not Starbucks U?" Actually since he deals mostly with independents Mr. Miletto was looking for a way to create an online buzz for his industry of buzz creators (hat tip to caffeine). By using Ning.com he started a group called the Barista Exchange that is a place for independent coffee types to build profiles, post discussion topics, blog posts etc. etc. While the concept isn't earth shattering the results were pretty good. Since December there are over 3,000 members and about 15,000 unique visitors a month. The article talks about how many small biz types are realizing that the networking with customers is one thing but networking with likeminded business owners reaps benefits. The resulting network and networking has created a community that has ideas and opportunities roasting all the time. An instance of this occurred in Easton, PA that stalwart of independent coffee shop owners (look out Seattle). Two shop owners found each other, realized they are about 20 minutes from each other so they started referring customers back and forth. Once again, not earth shattering just effective. According to the article Miletto's success was not quick. He started in December of last year. I would have to say that he did a pretty good job for just six months. His recipe for success included: A passionate group that was open to this type of activity Development of content that was designed to compel reaction from the group Repeated recruitment of members via e-mail and advertising (no indication about $ amounts) New features being added consistently A will to get the group to the point of viral self promotion Well, folks we have reached a new point in the world of internet marketing. It's not about the latest, greatest and coolest applications all the time. It's really about some good old fashioned business principles. Give your audience what they want and keep feeding them. No bells and whistles just consistent delivery and a lot of hard work. Creating social networks may really be the new world construction industry. No one knows who built the roads we drive on and the buildings we work in but we couldn't do anything without their effort. Hats off to more internet construction workers building great places to get life done.

Linky Goodness, July 21 Posted: 21 Jul 2008 04:22 PM CDT Happy anniversary to me! To help you celebrate, I’ve collected awesome links, of course. Janet’s not the only one appreciating the usefulness of the Google Content Network: How To Use The Google Content Network To Invest In Domains And more news on Google’s tools: Matt Cutts clarifies that the toolbar doesn’t index or queue sites for indexing and other myths. And one last bit of Google news: American Airlines And Google Settle Keyword Lawsuit Um, how many times can we say post hoc ergo propter hoc on a blog? (That’s probably four.) But somehow, I’m not totally convinced that just because Live Cashback launched In May, that it’s the cause of a 15% surge in Microsoft search volume (and a 0.7 percentage point rise in market share). Who’s using Hulu? Not many, but they’re happy with it. (Includes demographic info!) You know what they say about economists. (You don’t? Oh, they say that they see something working in the real world and wonder if it would work in theory.) The Economist takes a look at how piracy may be beneficial. If you have any more room for Facebook news, note that they’re suing the German-language alleged-knockoff site, StudiVZ. The first of many suits? Pilgrim’s Partners: Discover your Best Leads while reading your Email. Best Contact Form

Facebook’s Annual Redesign Posted: 21 Jul 2008 04:12 PM CDT Sign in on the subdomain www.new.facebook.com and you’re greeted “Welcome to the new Facebook.” And indeed it is. Facebook is unveiling a new redesign, and the long-tested tabbed profile pages aren’t the only changes. If you don’t feel like signing in yourself, here’s a screenshot and explanation. Home: Very obviously, the layout of the Facebook site is changing. As promised, the left navigation is gone, moved up into the top nav. (The Applications link has a mouse-over drop down menu which includes the photos, groups and other navigation elements that were listed out separately on the sidebar.) The search bar has also moved to the top nav, to the upper right corner. The new full-screen layout will probably cause division among the hardcore Facebook fans (just because everything Facebook does causes some dissent). The News Feed also adds a small “comment” link after every item which adds a comment within the News Feed (Lisa, you’ll have to tell me how that shows up for you). (And Ryan, yes, of course it’s a joke. Happy anniversary! 0:D .) The new profile page features the tabbed design previewed for the past few months, but with a few changes: From left to right, shall we? In the left-hand column, they list a little bit of information (networks, relationship, birthday, but not something like gender?), friends and photos. There’s also a place now to “write something about yourself” just below your profile picture. Perhaps this is the new “About me” box on for the default profile page? The default tab in the center column, Wall, integrates the old Mini-feed and the Wall. Above that, however, is the much-touted “Publisher,” which includes quick links to update status, add photos and links, write on your own wall, etc. The new wall can filter posts by the owner of the profile (basically the old Mini-feed, plus whatever they wrote on their own wall) or others. You can also choose to display your stories on the wall as a single line, a “short” or a “full,” slightly different layouts. Other tabs include Info, where all the basic stats that used to be on the profile page are from education to work to website to favorite TV shows; Photos, where . . . you have ten guesses; and whatever tabs you choose to add for various applications. Perhaps most interesting is the move of the ads to the right-hand column, where they’ll probably receive less attention. Also interesting is seeing more than one ad displayed at a time, something which the old layout rarely if ever did with the ads in the left-hand column below the old navigation (and depending on how many applications you had listed, possibly below the fold). AllFacebook also lists another minor change: The friends page will now list your friends lists on the left-hand side instead of the right. The new design is expected to become the default soon. In all, the design emphasizes the social aspect of Facebook. Read Write Web says that this is a sign that Facebook, like its users, is growing up. To me, though, it looks less like growing up and more like cleaning up their room. Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com - Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

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